The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office detected an unauthorized attempt to access its network systems early Monday morning, according to a statement from Sheriff Austin Garrett.
In response, the department’s IT team initiated a full system shutdown to protect sensitive data and records.
Several external services are temporarily unavailable, including the department’s website, public access to mugshots, news releases, the warrant search page, tip-line and features of the sheriff’s app. It is unknown when these services will be restored.
(READ MORE: City of Chattanooga says it was also affected by data breach)
“Rest assured, as always, your Sheriff’s Office continues to function, and we will continue, through our continuity of services, to provide the highest level of law enforcement and corrections services available,” Garrett said in a news release.
The attempted breach is under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, along with state and federal partners.
No further details are available at this time.
–– Compiled by Dasia Williams